I've been having discussions with the bishop of my parents' ward. I kind of enjoy getting to talk about these things with someone in the church. What I'm finding, though, is that this guy just doesn't believe anything that is inconvenient for him to believe. For instance, I told him that I would never want to be one of many wives in the afterlife and be around to populate our own planet. He starts saying he doesn't really believe that will be the case, or maybe the one wife won't know about the other wives but God will make it so that everyone is comfortable and happy. I told him that was a cop out.
I showed him some stuff from the church and prophets that talks about polygamy in the afterlife and showed him in D&C where it says it is a new and EVERLASTING covenant.
So he just says that all that stuff is old and everlasting might have a different meaning for god.
Now he's telling me that he doesn't believe the LDS church is the ONLY true church but it can provide all these things:

Understand the true nature of God
Understand our relationship to God (He is the literal father of our spirits)
Understand our purpose in this life
Make and keep eternal covenants with Him (contracts that extend beyond this life)
See a the framework of His commandments
Have confidentce that we can endure to the end
Have His spirit to be with us near constantly
Live our lives in peace with the knowledge and presence of the above things

What can you say to someone who obviously doesn't believe in some of the church but doesn't realize it's because it's wrong, not because we just don't understand everything yet?

Is this something I can work with or do you think his point of view makes it easier to accept everything for him?

reply: I'm glad the church works for you (meaning this bishop), but it just doesn't work for me.

I have no problem with people taking from the church what they want. I do have a problem when they force their views on others.

I have a problem with anyone who wants to "endure to the end." Man what a crappy world view! It conditions the mind to miss all the joy and excitement life has to offer.

"Endure to the end" used to be the phrase that kept me going. It even made me go as far as remarrying my eternal companion, after I finally made the civil (legal) break from him. The one thing I could no longer endure was the cheating and he convinced me that he would die before he'd even think about that again because he had seen what it meant to be away from his family. Yes, I fell for that lie. I got up the morning we were going to remarry, looked in the mirror and said, "OK, NormaRae, Endure. To. The. End." Never once did I think I'd really be happy. At least not in this life. But I could endure for my kids, to be with them for all eternity (cause, you know, we'd like each other in the eternities) and for a chance to work it out with the person I'd be sealed to in the hereafter.

That's what life is to so many mormons. Just enduring. Keep going for that phantom prize on the other side. How wonderful it is now to want to enjoy to the end. If anything feels like it's something I'm just enduring, I work hard to change that part of my life. And I certainly won't endure being treated like schit by anyone, not family, not "friends," not co-workers.

Yes, the mormon church teaches you how to endure (how to endure being a mormon). Well, if you make the choice to just keep on enduring. But you should ask yourself what life is if you're just trying to endure to the end.

+1

Best response: "If you don't believe what your prophets say, why should anyone else?"

+1 The so called prophet is either God's mouthpiece or he's not. There's no in-between, and if you believe he is God's mouthpiece, you better take EVERYTHING he says as the truth.

My mother does the pick and choose thing too, ignoring anything that doesn't fit with what she wants it to be.

Right now, the mormons want us to believe there is 50 Shades of Prophet--because that is convenient when the prophet screws up, which is usually. Like, "Oh when the prophet said that he was speaking 20% as prophet and 80% as man." Yeah right.

Of course, for sure, he was speaking 100% as a dick.

Blueorchid, that is an insult to my manhood, even if there is shrinkage.

If it is not the only true church, then why would a person want to put up with all the baggage associated with being LDS?

In person interviews with questions about private matters, no coffee, no tea, no alcoholic beverages, home teaching, boring meetings, dull music, untrained ministers, mind blowing WTF doctrines, whitewashed history, etc.....

All the other stuff is available in other communities (faithful and otherwise). Why endure all the nonsense?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2013 10:30AM by snowball.

Dear Bishop,

When the prophet said this is the "one and only true church" was he speaking as a mouth piece for God, or as a man?
When you tell me the LDS church isn't the ONLY true church are you speaking as a mouth piece for God/through the priesthood, or as a man?

________________________________________________________

BP is living in denial or avoidance because to address reality causes emotional discomfort. It's easier to twist his belief into sometime acceptable versus confronting his emotional discomfort.

Oh, good for you, and how was it? I hope it was fucking good because it's useless now, isn't it? Fuck's sake man you're an amateur.

You might mention that if he went public with his beliefs, he'd be removed from his bishopric and probably excommunicated.

Ask him if he has the guts to write an op ed in the Tribune stating that 1) he does not believe the church is the only true church, 2) he thinks polygamy will not exist in the afterlife, 3) Oaks and the others were incorrect when they said in conference that they were already polygamists, and 4) all the prophets who said that polygamy is an eternal law were wrong.

This stuff pisses me off to no end. There are lots of bishops and stake presidents who say things that would get ordinary Mormons excommunicated. My final bishop and his wife both believed JS was a fallen prophet because of polygamy, yet my stake president said that I could not have a temple recommend because I thought polygamy was a "mistake."